Senior Software Engineer, Confluent
$197.4-232k
+ Equity
Data streaming platform
Be an early applicant
Data streaming platform
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
$197.4-232k
+ Equity
1001+ employees
Company mission
To help every organization harness data in motion so they can compete and thrive in the modern world.
Role
Who you are
- 5+ years of industry experience building, scaling, and operating backend systems in production
- Deep proficiency in at least one major backend programming language (for example, Java, Go, C/C++, or Python) and strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and system design
- Hands-on experience with distributed systems (such as event-driven architectures, high-throughput services, or large-scale data pipelines) and an understanding of consistency, fault tolerance, and performance tradeoffs
- Strong experience running services in a public cloud (AWS, GCP, or Azure), including containers and orchestration (for example, Docker, Kubernetes) and modern deployment practices
- Comfortable working with databases and storage systems (SQL and/or NoSQL), including data modeling and performance optimization for scale
- A track record of technical leadership: driving projects, influencing architecture, and coordinating work across multiple engineers or teams
- Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to align stakeholders, explain complex ideas clearly, and drive decisions
- Experience with observability and operational excellence (metrics, logging, tracing, incident response, and postmortems)
- BS, MS, or PhD in computer science, engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
What the job involves
- Senior Software Engineers II at Confluent take ownership of critical backend systems that underpin our data streaming platform
- You’ll lead the design and delivery of large-scale, distributed services that must be secure, highly available, and easy to operate across regions and clouds
- This is a general L4 backend role used across multiple teams. Depending on your background, you may focus on areas like core platform services, governance and metadata, observability and telemetry, security and access, or customer-facing application services
- We’ll align you to a team during the process based on your experience, interests, and business needs
- You’ll act as a technical leader: setting direction for projects, making architecture decisions, mentoring engineers, and partnering with cross-functional stakeholders to ship high-impact work
- Own and lead the design and implementation of complex backend services and systems in a cloud-native, microservices-based environment
- Make architecture and technical decisions that balance reliability, scalability, performance, and operability, and clearly communicate the tradeoffs
- Drive projects end to end: from requirements and design through implementation, rollout, and ongoing operation in production
- Improve service reliability and operations by defining SLOs/SLAs, strengthening observability, and participating in on-call as needed
- Collaborate across teams to define APIs, integration points, and data models that keep the platform coherent and evolvable
- Identify and drive platform and productivity improvements (tooling, automation, process) that raise the bar for the broader engineering organization
- Mentor and support other engineers through code reviews, design reviews, and technical guidance, helping grow the team’s capabilities
- Contribute to a culture of continuous improvement, inclusive collaboration, and high technical standards
Our take
Confluent is a commercial company built on top of the open-source Apache Kafka project. Confluent and Kafka have developed a streaming data technology that processes massive amounts of information in real-time. The streaming database technology was developed at LinkedIn as a way of moving massive amounts of messages. The company decided to open-source that tech in 2011, and Confluent launched as the commercial arm in 2014.
While the base open-source component remains available for free download, it doesn’t include the additional tooling the company has built to make it easier for enterprises to use Kafka. Confluent's value add is in those additional tools, including a cloud version of the product and a marketplace for sharing extensions to the platform.
Confluent expanded strategic partnerships with Microsoft and acquired Immerok, and in 2023 expanded its cloud platform. 2024 saw further product expansions with the launch of the Confluent Migration Accelerator, all exemplifying how the company is living up to its name by rocket-boosting the benefits of Apache Kafka integration for companies.
Now, it looks like IBM is eyeing the company for acquisition and Confluent looks to be a natural fit. Long positioned as the real-time backbone behind modern application, Confluent would gain global scale and an even deeper enterprise reach under iBM, while cementing its role at the center of AI-driven architectures. For COnfluent, the deal would marka shift from fast-growing independent disruptor to foundational infrastructure player powering the next wave of enterprise AI.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 5 rounds)
Apr 2020
$250m
SERIES E
Jan 2019
$125m
SERIES D
Total funding: $455.9m
Company HQ
Old Mountain View, Mountain View, CA
Leadership
Jay Kreps
(Co-Founder & CEO)Prior to co-founding Confluent in 2014, Jay spent 7 years at LinkedIn, holding various roles including Principal Engineer and Principal Staff Engineer.
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